In this multi-part article, I want to give you some pointers on how to practice the piano. Practicing can be fun and when you have clear goals defined, I think you’ll find that it is satisfying and enjoyable!

Goals keep you focused

If you sit down to practice without a goal, you will most likely ‘wander’ through your practice routine without a clear path. I think we all understand what it means to have a goal. I’m sure you’ve all been asked that age-old question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Questions like this often seem more like dreaming than a serious question. Let’s face it, who really knows where we are going to be in 5 years?

So, it is important to keep our goals based in reality. Keep your piano goals simple and short. For instance, here is what I would consider a ‘pie-in-the-sky’ or un-realistic goal:

“I want to learn 100 songs in a month.”

or

“I want to learn how to play jazz piano this year.”

With goals like that you are destined to fail. So…how do we create realistic goals?

1. Break your main goal into smaller goals
2. Be realistic with your time
3. Be happy with small gains!

Let’s go through this list point-by-point.

1) If we take the goal of learning jazz piano and break it into smaller goals, we might come up with:

1. Repertoire (songs)
2. Knowing scales
3. Knowing chords
4. Mastering rhythms
5. Active listening

2) If you set out to practice 2 hours a day, but you work a 9-5 job and have kids…well…you know. It’s most likely impossible! Remember this very important fact: It is not about time. It’s about quality. Practicing for 30 minutes per day can produce power results if you are focused and clear about what you should practice. So, practice less…but more focus.

3) I don’t want to bring you down, but we often make goals that are just unrealistic. I’ve made them myself and I know you probably have too. I’m talking about goals like “I’m going to workout 5-days-a-week starting in January.” We pull ourselves to the gym on Monday and come Friday we are rationalizing why we have stopped. We end up feeling worse about ourselves then when we started and are filled with a variety of negative emotions.

There is a solution: make your goal so easy that you are likely to succeed.

So, instead of ‘learning 100 songs in a month’ or ‘learning jazz piano this year’ I suggest that you shorten your goals and expectations. It is better to learn 5 songs in a year, than attempt to learn 100 only to come up short. Or, I’d rather a student learn all 12 Major scales in 12 months than try to become a jazz pianist…a goal that takes a lifetime to achieve.

O.K. I think by now you understand what I mean when I say ‘goals.’ Now, let’s focus on a mistake that almost every one of my students, myself and practically every other musician in the world makes…

Playing the piano is NOT practicing the piano

I honestly can’t tell you how many times I have heard from students that they spent 30 minutes playing songs that they know only to think they were practicing. Or, have you done this?

1. Sat down at the piano
2. Started playing a song you know
3. Thought of it as a “warmup?”

Yep, we’ve all done it. Sat down for 20 minutes, played stuff we already knew and thought we were practicing. Well…we weren’t. We were playing.

You should sound bad when you practice!

Let me explain. If you’re like most, when you sit to practice piano, you’re time is most likely limited. If you start your practice session by playing the songs that you already know, you are not working on anything new. You’re basically just reviewing your repertoire. If the phone rings, or you get interrupted, it is easy to step away only to not return.

However, if you get right into some focused piano practice immediately when you sit down, you can feel more confident that you are work you are doing is improving your playing.

In the next segment of the piano practice series, I will cover a new practice routine that I have created to help organize your piano practice. I like to break practice into weekly goals, piano technique, songs, review and theory. This allows us to basically break up our practice routine into three parts:

1. Technique – geting faster, more accurate piano fingers
2. Focus – zeroing in on the important concepts for this week’s practice
3. Review – keeping what we have already learned in our memory.

I’ll go over those concepts and more in the next article. I’ll also tell you about getting faster in my Go for speed! section along with how to practice away from the piano.

In the meantime, try to answer this question: “What are my piano goals for this week, month, year?”

Till next month…keep up your practice!

]]> http://www.jazzpianolessons.com/articles/how-to-practice-the-piano/feed 14 http://www.jazzpianolessons.com/articles/rock-improvisation-techniques-bruce-hornsby http://www.jazzpianolessons.com/articles/rock-improvisation-techniques-bruce-hornsby#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:01:05 +0000 Willie http://www.jazzpianolessons.com/?p=266

For me, one of the reasons I love Bruce Hornsby’s music so much is due to his ability to infuse a jazz sound into a rock environment. Let me explain…

In this article, I will break down one of the licks that I teach in our Bruce Hornsby, “The Way It Is” lesson. I’ll also point out some neat ‘tricks’ that give your improvisation a more sophisticated sound without getting too ‘jazzy’ with the song.

The first thing to notice in Bruce Hornsby’s improvisation lick is how he uses the E minor pentatonic scale. Let’s review the notes of the E minor pentatonic scale. They are: E-G-A-B-D and E. Remember, the E minor pentatonic scale is the same as the G Major pentatonic…starting on E. If you need more help with these scales, checkout my Funk Improvisation series.

Now here is the cool thing about pentatonics and scales in general…you can use them over multiple chords. So, this E minor pentatonic also works well over the A minor chord. Why? Well, again, looking at the notes we see that the E minor pentatonic scale notes function on A minor like so:

• E = the 5th of an A minor chord
• G = 7th (minor 7th to be exact)
• A = Yep, you guessed it…the root
• B = the 9th
• D = the 11th (a great tension on minor chords)

And the same scale on an E minor chord functions as such:

• E = the root of Emin7
• G = the minor 3rd (or 3rd for short)
• A = the 11th
• B = the 5th
• D = the minor 7th (7th for short)

So, I hope that you are seeing that the E minor pentatonic works perfectly over both the Amin7 and the Emin7 chords. This makes it a while lot easier to improvise over those two chords…especially when moving a a fast tempo. Speaking of tempo, you’ll notice that Bruce Hornsby plays this scale in 16th notes. This can be challenging at first, but slow consistent practice will produce results.
O.K. so we now understand what is happening scale-wise. But how does he create such a cool sounding lick out of it? Well, in a word…sequencing. Here is his lick.

Sequencing A Lick

Sequencing is when you create a pattern of notes and repeat that pattern at a constant interval. Think of sequencing as a ‘copy-paste’ function in music. You ‘copy’ a melody pattern (series of notes) and then ‘paste’ the pattern maybe a whole step higher…it’s up to you. For example, using the C major scale you can see how we ‘copied’ a three-note pattern: C-D-E and then ‘pasted’ the shape of the pattern a whole step higher.

A quick note, don’t be confused by music sequencing which is when you use computers to record and playback your music.

Taking a look at Bruce Hornsby’s lick again you can see that I isolated the sequenced parts of the lick. You’ll see that I marked the last sequence as B-D-G, but in reality this is not part of the original sequence. However, it could be. You could continue the sequence and play A-D-E.

Advanced Sequencing

We can create some advanced lick using this sequencing technique. Look at the lick sequence below and see if you can see the interval at which we are sequencing the lick. I’ll give you a hint…look at the first note of each 16th-note grouping. We are starting each sequence a 4th away. So the sequences start on G-D-A-E. Within each 16th-note grouping, notice what we are doing. We are going up 2 notes of the scale, playing those 2 notes, then going below our target note by 1 scale degree. Watch the video below for a demonstration.

VIEW BRUCE HORNSBY LESSON

Recently I recorded a Willie Answers lesson on diminished harmony. Part of that lesson was using a diminished approach technique which I discuss in depth in the lesson. I also covered drop 2 voicings which generated some questions from our students. So, I figured let’s do an article to explain the concept!

In this article, I am using Duke Ellington’s Prelude To A Kiss to demonstrate drop 2 voicing techniques.

The Melody

Let’s start with the melody. In example 1, you’ll find the melody of the first 4-measures of the song.

Example 1

Voicing Down From The Melody

Next, we “voice down” from each melody note with a four-note chord.

Example 2

Let me explain what voice down means. Notice the first chord is D7 with the notes: C-E-F#-B. These notes break down as follows:

1. C = the 7th of the chord
2. E = the 9th of the chord
3. F# = the 3rd of the chord, and
4. B = the 13th and is also the melody

So, to “voice down” means that we are creating a chord voicing down from our melody note. The melody note should remain the top note while we ‘fill in’ chord tones and tensions beneath the melody. If you need help creating block chords, check out my article on Creating Seventh Chords.

TIP: when we refer to voicings or voicing a chord, we are referring to how the notes of the chords are arranged.

Placement

Now that we have our melody voiced with 4-note chords, we can proceed with our drop 2 technique. In example 3, I have isolated the first D7 chord:

Example 3

If we were to number the notes of the chord, starting with the melody note and working down, we have B = 1, F# = 2, E = 3, C = 4.

IMPORTANT: at this point you might be thinking “Wait a minute! I thought B was the 13th and F# was the 3rd?” Yes, B is the 13th of the chord. However, when thinking of the placement of the note B, it is the top note of the chord or note #1. Another way to look at it is like this:

#1
#2
#3
#4

Or,

B = #1 (the top note)
F# = #2 (the second note down)
E = #3 (third note down)
C = #4 (fourth note down)

Dropping The 2nd

Now the drop 2 chord voicing technique involves dropping the 2nd note from the top down an octave. So, this means that you ‘drop’ the F# down one octave. A couple of points:

1. We are still only using four notes in our chord. We are not adding notes.
2. The ‘dropped’ note does not mean that we are dropping it from the chord. Just dropping it down an octave from where it currently is.
3. You would play this dropped note with your left hand, or break up the four notes between the hands.

Take a look at example 4 to see what this looks like:

Example 4

Drop 2 Chord Technique

So here in example 5 we have the first four measures with each chord using the drop 2 technique. Bear in mind that we are only focusing on the drop 2 technique. We can add more re-harmonization and “fills” between the chords at a later time.

Example 5

I would suggest spending some time with this and download the pdf sheet music of this article to take back to the piano.

Fuller Chord Voicings

So if you played example 5, you’ll hear that the chords sound really nice, but maybe a bit “thin” because the root of the chord is missing. Well, if we add the root to the chord, we get a much fuller chord sound. See example 6:

Example 6

Finally, in example 7, we can see how using our drop 2 technique along with the added root gives us a beautiful, rich chord sound that is pretty easy to achieve if you follow the steps I have outlined in this article.

Example 7

Download Article Sheet Music

Using Quartals To Make Richer Chord Voicings

I love the sound of those big, fat jazz chords. Don’t you? Those tensions and ‘extra’ notes really make the song go from dull to dazzling. Creating these rich chord voicings becomes much easier when we use quartals.

A quartal is two stacked intervals. It is two perfect fourths stacked on top of one another. The interval from C to F is a perfect fourth. If we add another perfect fourth above F, we’d get Bb. C-F-Bb played together becomes a quartal.

Before adding quartals to our chords, let’s break down the basic C Major 7th chord.

The plain ‘ol “block” chord for C Maj 7 is C-E-G-B.

C is the root, E is the third, G is the fifth and B is the seventh.

You’ll notice that I referred to the chord as a block chord. It is called a block chord because it sounds “blocky” but also because it is built by stacking thirds on top of one another. This is called a tertial chord voicing because it is made up of only thirds.

Creating chords using only stacked thirds is a fine way of making chords, but after a while they sound bland to the ears. Triads are another example of a tertial chord voicing.

We can add a lot of spice to our chords by replacing or re-arranging the notes of our chords. This process is called creating new voicings. Voicings are how chords are constructed. For example a C Major triad is C, E and G. If we play C-E-G, E-G-C or G-C-E, we have played the triad in three different voicings. An inversion is one way of quickly creating a new voicing for a chord and that is exactly what I just did to the C Major triad. C-E-G is root position. E-G-C is first inversion and G-C-E is second inversion.

Now, let’s “spice up” our C Major 7th chord by adding some quartals.

The first step is to remove unnecessary notes from the block chord to create a “shell”. In the left hand, play C, E and B. I removed the G, which is the fifth, because it does not define the quality of the chord. We need the E and B to know that the quality of this chord is a Major seventh. We keep the C, the root, so that our ears know which chord it is. Otherwise, without a root, the chord might sound like an E chord or many others.

In the right-hand, add a quartal starting on the 9th. The Quartal & Pentatonic Improvisation DVD comes with a handy chart that makes it easy to pick out the quartals.

In the example below, you can see I’ve built a quartal starting on the 9th. Now, I like to think of building from the bottom up, so the bottom note is the 9th, the middle note is the 5th and the top note is the root. Play this with your right-hand.

Now we can put the two hands together to get a very rich chord.

You might hear that the chord sounds a little “tense”. This is because the root (C) in the right-hand is conflicting with the major seventh (B) in the left-hand. An easy way to avoid this tension is to replace the seventh in the left-hand with the 6th, A. Example below:

Other options for forming rich Major seventh chords include building quartals starting on the 3rd and 6th. Here are two examples:

Built on the 3rd:

Built on the 6th:

Listen to the licks

Take a look at the DVD: Advanced Jazz Improvisation with Quartals and Pentatonics

There are several ways that you can form chords:

1. Number the scale and choose the appropriate scale degrees
2. Use intervals to “stack” notes
3. Use your ear to “hunt and peck” at the notes

Let’s work backwards.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
#3 Use your ear to “hunt and peck” at the notes
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

This is not a very accurate way of forming chords. However, it will
produce some interesting sounds! I DO like the idea of taking some
time at the piano to “free play”. Simply try creating new chords by
spreading out your fingers and hit three or four notes at a time.
What do you think about the sound you just made?

Sometimes you’ll come up with a sound that you really like. If this
happens, write the notes down! You can create a “black book of
chords” of different chords that you like the sound of. When
looking for something to practice, pull out your little black book
of chords and practice one of those chords.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
#2 Use Intervals to “stack” notes
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

You’ll produce accurate chords with this method, but you might not
know the “function” of the notes.

To create a dominant 7th chord, start with the root. Let’s use G as
our root.

Next, go up a Major 3rd higher than G. This note would be B. Now
you have G & B as the first two notes of the G7 chord.

Next, move up a minor 3rd from B and play a D. The notes are now
G-B-D, a Major triad.

Finally, go up another minor 3rd from D and play F.

The complete G7 (G Dominant 7th) chord is G-B-D-F

Using this method requires you to -really- know your intervals.
But, that is a good thing! Here’s a trick, take 2 stacks of note
cards. On one stack (stack A) write one note on each card. So, on
one card, you’d write C. On the next card, write Db. On the next, D
and so on until you have all 12 notes.

On the other set of cards (stack B), write an interval on each
card. So, one card would say Major 3rd. The next card would say
minor 3rd. The next would say Major 2nd and so on. You do not need
to write all of the intervals at this time. You might just want to
start with Major and minor 3rds.

To use the cards, pull one card from stack A and B. So, you might
have Eb — Major 3rd. You need to say what note is a Major 3r
higher than Eb. Do you know? It is G.

This is a great way to learn your intervals.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
#1 Number the scale and choose the appropriate scale degrees
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

I think this is the best all-around method for creating chords.
With this method, you review your scales and also get to know the
function of the notes in each chord. So, let’s go through this
method.

First, you NEED to know your Major scale. The pattern for creating
the Major scale is: W-W-1/2-W-W-W-1/2.

Start on any note. Let’s use F for this example. Now, go up a
whole-step (that’s what the ‘W’ stands for) to G. A few points to
remember. First, when you started on the F, you did not go anywhere
yet. Many students think the first note is the whole-step. In
reality, you need to move between two notes to create the first
whole step. Second, a whole-step is equal to two half-steps. A
half-step is when you move to the very next note higher or lower.

O.K., so we now have F-G as the first two notes of our F Major
scale. Next, move up another whole-step to A. Next, move up a
half-step to Bb (B flat). Now a whole-step to C. Another whole-step
to D. One more whole-step to E. Finally a half-step to F. The
complete scale is:

F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F
W-W-1/2-W-W-W-1/2

Now that you have the F Major scale, we number the notes of the
scale.

F=1
G=2
A=3
Bb=4
C=5
D=6
E=7
F=8 or 1

The Dominant 7th pattern is 1-3-5-b7. So, 1=F, 3=A, 5=C and b7=E
flat. The completed F7 chord is F-A-C-Eb.

Using this method, it is easy to see how each note is functioning
in the chord. You know that the 3rd is A and the seventh is Eb. It
also gets you learning your Major scales. More importantly though,
you learn the NOTES of each scale. You will start to recognize the
3rd of a scale or flatted 5th.

Here are the patterns for some other types of chords:

Major 7th: 1-3-5-7
Minor 7th: 1-b3-5-b7
Dominant 7th: 1-3-5-b7
Diminished 7th: 1-b3-b5-bb7 <– that’s double flat! Same note as 6,
so we could write it as: 1-b3-b5-6

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
Conclusion
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Yikes! That’s a lot of stuff to learn. I know, it has taken me
years to master it. You should now have a better understanding of
how to create these chords in a variety of ways.

Understanding Jazz Piano Chords

Jazz piano chords can sometimes be confusing at first glance. In this article, I am going to explain how jazz players usually interpret chords and pick tensions to create lush chords. Bear in mind, every musician has their own “tricks” that they use to form their chords. However, there are some basic harmonic concepts that you need to understand and I’ll cover some of them in this article.

If you are looking for an instructional course on creating full chords at the piano, I’d suggest the JazzPianoLessons.com Piano Chords bundle. This three-DVD set covers both basic seventh chords along with advanced quartal voicings, tensions, alterations, upper-structure triads, rootless voicings and more.

Let’s begin with a basic seventh chord for D-7. Example A is what a typical voicing of a D-7 chord might look like.

Example A

O.K., that’s pretty simple, right? Now take a look at example B. Does this still look like a D-7 to you?

Example B

Labeling Chords

You might look at this chord and think F Maj7 or D-9. We can rule out F Maj7 because the root is a D. However, why didn’t I label this chord D-9?
I did not label the chord as D-9 because it is common for jazz players to automatically add tensions to the chords that they are playing. Jazz players know which available tensions each chord can utilize. Personally, I’d rather see a chord written as D-7 than D-9 or D-9 (add 11). I think that many (not all) pianists would agree with me because as jazz players, we are accustomed to working from a “shell”.
Basically, when I see D-7, I already know that the 9th and 11th are probably available to me. When looking at a lead sheet, especially in a low-light gig situation, I want the lead sheet to be as un-cluttered as possible.

The “Right” Tensions

You might be wondering, which tensions are the “right” tensions for a particular chord? Well, let’s go through the three basic chords: Major, minor and Dominant 7th chords.

Major 7th available tensions are: 9, #11 or 6 (usually replaces the 7th)
Minor 7th available tensions: 9 and 11. 6 would replace the 7th.
Dominant 7th available tensions: b9, 9, #9, #11, b13 and 13.

Here is an easy chart:

Chord Type Available Tensions
Major: 9, # 11 or 6 (usually replaces the 7th)
Minor: 9 and 11. 6 would replace the 7th
Dominant: b9, 9, # 9, #11, b13 and 13

So, looking back at the D-7 chord in example B, you’ll notice that I am adding the 9th to the chord. This is just one of many different voicings that I cover in the Piano Chords bundle.

Dominant 7th Tensions

I want to draw your attention to the Dominant 7th available tensions. Once again, they are b9, 9, #9, #11, b13 and 13. Let’s go through the notes for a C7 chord.

C7 chord tones are: C-E-G-Bb

Available tensions are: Db-D-D#-F#-Ab-A

You’ll notice that the only two notes left that are not represented are F and B. F would be a sus4 and B would change the C7 to a C Maj7 chord.
I like to bring this up because remember, when you improvise, you can use any chord tones or available tensions in your solo. So, on a Dominant 7th chord, there are really only two notes that you would try to avoid. This also means that when you play a Dominant 7th chord, you can add almost any note as a tension. Well, let me put it this way, you have a 10 out of 12 chance of hitting the “right” note!

The Million Dollar Question, “Why 13 and not 6?”

I have been asked this question for years! It is a difficult question to answer because it is like asking why does 2+2=4? However, I do have my explanation. Let’s take the C7 chord as an example again.
The chord tones (notes that are found in the chord and not tensions) are C-E-G-Bb for a C7 chord. The C is the root, E is the third, G is the fifth and Bb is the flatted 7th.

It is perfectly reasonable to think of D, F# and A as two, sharp four and six. However, we would call D the ninth, F# sharp eleven and A the thirteenth. You might be asking, “Why?”
Since chords are predominantly formed by “stacking” thirds, we would consider the D-F# and A as being “upper structures” of the chord. See example C below:

Example C

Another way of looking at adding tensions is to add a Major 9th above the root, third and fifth of the chord. Example D demonstrates this technique.

Example D

In the next article, I’ll discuss how to create a dominant 7th and Major 7th chord using tensions. We’ll also cover replacing chord tones with tensions.

Learn more about the Piano Chords bundle.

Where do I start?

This is a question that I am often asked from new and potential students. I suppose if I only have two DVDs available, it would be easier to pick a place to start. However, I have dozens of DVDs available on many different topics. So, I completely understand why many of you ask “Where do I start?”

In this three-part article, I am going to lay out a “plan of attack” for the beginner, intermediate and advanced level player. Of course every student has different needs and interests. Therefore, I ask that you view this guide as a starting point, and not a rigid lesson plan.

This first part will deal with the absolute beginner to jazz or the piano. This lesson plan is for you if:

• You have only a few months or less experience.
• If you can already play, but are completely new to jazz
• If you can already play, but would like a “refresher” course
• If you find many “holes” in your knowledge of theory, rhythm or improvisation
• If you can not improvise already

Beginner Concepts For Learning Jazz Piano

If your goal is to learn jazz piano, learn how to improvise at the piano or just learn how to play the piano with more ease and fluidity, you need to break your practice and learning down into separate concepts. The concepts I’ll be discussing are:

• Rhythm — learning rhythm and how to perform rhythms more effectively
• Accompaniment — learning how to accompany yourself and others
• Chords & Theory — understanding how to build your chords
• Technique — increasing your fluidity at the piano
• Improvisation — learning how to improvise a melody and create a solo

Rhythm

Rhythm is perhaps the most important element of music. The other element of music are harmony and melody. Rhythm however can make or break a performance. We all know that just playing the ‘right’ notes does not always sound fine. Having good rhythm goes a long way in deciding if you sound like a professional or a novice.

A good place for all pianists to brush up on their rhythms is Mastering Rhythms Volume 1. In this DVD, you’ll learn:

• Why is Rhythm Important?
• Time signatures & Meter
• Vocalizing Rhythms
• Quarter Notes & Rests
• Half Notes, Whole Notes & Rests
• Swing vs. Straight
• Downbeat, Upbeat & Syncopation
• Eighth Notes on The Downbeat
• Eighth Notes Starting on The Upbeat
• Eighth Notes Tied Into Other Notes
• Understanding & Playing Triplets
• How to Sub-divide The Beat

Practice Routine:

DAY ONE:

1. Print off the music and put it in a binder (10 mins)
2. “Skim” through the printed material and DVD (15 mins)
3. Watch the first chapter 2-3x before trying it alone (30-40 mins)
4. Turn off the DVD and try to reproduce what I just did in the last chapter (15 mins)

DAY TWO:

1. Do not watch the DVD. Instead, try to reproduce what I did using only the printed music (15-20 mins)
2. If you get frustrated, take a 5 minute break and come back to it
3. Try applying these rhythms to a simple scale like C-D-E-F-G (10 mins)
4. Move on to the next DVD or try the next chapter (see below)

At this point, you can move on to the next DVD, or stay focused on rhythms. It really depends on your learning style. There is no harm in moving back-and-forth between multiple lessons as long as you come back to this lesson for review within a day or two.

Accompaniment

A basic definition of accompaniment is “the part played in the left hand that keeps a steady beat”. Many students when learning how to improvise have difficulty keeping a steady beat. Often, I hear them “fool around” with a scale in the right hand while playing a chord or nothing at all in the left hand. This would be fine if the beat were steady. Unfortunately, it is usually not.

If you have gone through at least the first chapter or two from the Mastering Rhythms DVD, you can now being working on a simple accompaniment that you can improvise over. DVD30-Improvise in 30 Minutes (JazzKids Book 2) teaches you these simple accompaniments and how to improvise over them.

Practice Routine:

DAY THREE:

1. Print off the music and put it in a binder (10 mins)
2. “Skim” through the printed material and DVD (15 mins)
3. Watch the first chapter (Improv introduction) before trying it alone (20-30 mins)
4. Turn off the DVD and try to reproduce what I just did in the last chapter (15 mins)
5. Practice this bass line a lot over the next few days
6. Watch the next two chapters (20 mins)

DAY FOUR:

1. At this point you should know how to play the bassline steady and understand what a lick is
2. Practice the C Blues 5-finger scale (C-Eb-F-F#-G) with the right hand (5 min)
3. Work through the licks on page 4, try one lick for now (15-30 min)

DAY FIVE:

1. I’d suggest going back to the Mastering Rhythms DVD and do another chapter. Remember to keep working on these rhythms and vocalizing them
2. If you have put the hands-together with a lick, practice that, otherwise…
3. Try putting the hands together. Play the bassline in the left hand and add the lick in the right.

At this point you should have a working knowledge of what a lick is. You should also be comfortable with the C Blues 5-finger scale and the bassline. You can stop here and rest for a day or keep going.

Chords & Theory

It is important to really learn your piano chords. What I mean is that you need to understand how to form all of your chords and spell the notes. Many times students only know how to find a chord because they have played it so many times. This is motor-memory. However, when asked to spell the notes in a B-7 chord, students draw a blank. The notes, by the way, of a B-7 chord is B-D-F#-A. You want to know how to spell all of your chords in as many keys as possible.

In my Basic Piano Chords DVD, you’ll learn:

• Intervals
• Major 7th Chords
• Types Of Playing
• Minor 7th Chords
• Dominant 7th Chords
• Sus Chords
• Magic Chords part 1
• Magic Chords part 2
• Real World Examples
• Wonder Chord

Practice Routine:

DAY SIX:

1. Print off the music and put it in a binder (10 mins)
2. “Skim” through the printed material and DVD (15 mins)
3. Watch the chapter on intervals (12 mins)
4. Try creating all different intervals at the piano
5. Quiz yourself by creating flash chards that say “Major 3rd”, “minor 3rd”. etc…

DAY SEVEN:

1. Watch the next chapter on Major 7th Chords (17 mins)
2. Try playing different Major 7th chords like CMaj7, FMaj7, GMaj7 in the right hand (10-20 mins)
3. Play those chords in the left hand now (10 mins)

DAY EIGHT-TWELVE

1. You can “flip flop” back-and-forth between DVDs now. Focus on one chapter at a time.
2. If you get frustrated, leave it for the day and come back to it the next day.
3. Try to keep the left hand steady while playing the bassline.
4. If you feel comfortable, you can try creating your own licks (see improvise in 30! DVD)
5. Remember that you can quiz yourself away from the piano and do mental practice

Technique

The last DVD that I’ll recommend in this article is the Hanon Mastery DVD. Technique is important not only to achieve fluid playing, but also to avoid injury. It is important to learn how to practice technical exercises without hurting yourself and while keeping focused. I have found that the more “fun” an exercise can be made, the more likely students will practice it.

Now, when I say fun, we’re still working. But, I make these exercises fun by showing you how to be creative in your practice. Yes, we’ll go through the ‘typical’ Hanon exercises, but I’ll also show you how to “spice” them up to sound more interesting to the ears.

DAY THIRTEEN:

1. Print off the music and put it in a binder (10 mins)
2. “Skim” through the printed material and DVD (15 mins)
3. Start by watching Hanon Exercise #1 (2-3x) (10-20 mins)
4. Try playing the exercise with only your right hand (5 mins)
5. Try playing the exercise with only your left hand (5 mins)
6. Try playing the exercise hands together (10 mins)
7. Remember to go slow and steady

DAY FOURTEEN:

1. You can move to Hanon Exercise #2, or…
2. Practice a new rhythm page (Mastering Rhythms), or…
3. Work on a new lick and add it to the bassline (Improvise in 30!), or…
4. Work on Dominant 7th chords (Basic Piano Chords)

After two weeks of working with the DVDs and the JazzPianoLessons.com program, you should have a clearer understanding of how to move between the DVDs. Remember, the DVDs are teaching you concepts. This means that you can apply these concepts to thousands of other songs. This method of teaching is more powerful in the end because you are learning the concept, not just what notes to push.

The best way to solidify these concepts is to apply them to songs. In the intermediate phase, I’ll show you how to apply these concepts to popular songs and styles. Now, you might be “itching” to get to that phase right now. Be patient. Jumping too far, too fast usually builds frustration in students.

I’ve learned the best way to avoid frustration is to break concepts down into small, step-by-step lessons that are easy to accomplish. Now easy is a relative term. What is easy to one student, might not be easy to the next. However, if you diligently practice the steps that I have laid out here, you will be able to master these concepts quickly.

Improvisation

The last concept is improvisation. Now we have already focused on improvisation in DVD30-Improvise in 30 Minutes. However, let me give you a few more pointers:

• Keep the accompaniment steady. Do not move away from the simple bassline (C-Eb-F-G) until you can play several licks in the right hand while keeping the bassline steady
• When creating your own licks, keep them very simple…like 2-3 notes in length only!
• The Mastering Rhythms DVD will be very helpful for creating your own licks because you can start a lick from a rhythm
• Try changing the bassline or licks by only one note at a time. There is more information about this on the DVDs
• Begin your practice routine with a Hanon Exercise or some type of technique for about 10-20 mins
• Don’t forget about your posture and breathing while improvising. It affects your time!

The four DVDs that I have laid out in this article represent several hours of instruction. This would translate into months of private lessons. Therefore, do not be in a hurry to ‘learn it all’ within two weeks. You might need to let some chapters just ’sit’ in your head for a while. The re is nothing wrong with just watching the DVDs to ’soak’ up the concepts. You might also try watching one DVD for ‘fun’ while working on a different DVD.

The possibilities of how you can use these piano instruction DVDs is almost endless. Apply your creative spirit to your practicing. Think of new and exciting ways to practice these concepts.

Piano Instruction DVDs covered in this article

• Mastering Rhythms Volume 1
• DVD30-Improvise in 30 Minutes
• Basic Piano Chords DVD
• Hanon Mastery

You can purchase the entire 6-DVD set at a discount here: